Pits and Peaks This Week

Published May 5, 2017

I’m the worst! I missed a week of Pits and Peaks again! For the uninitiated, Pits and Peaks is my weekly financial self-checkup, where I examine the week’s frugal wins and losses, all with sight of the goal to head out on a long trip in our van, Cecilia. If I’m honest, things have just been so hectic around here with the fluffers and work and what feels like constant cleaning… !! So, I’m sorry dear readers if I have left you hanging. Drumroll, please:

Pits

A happy and healthy kitty.

Financially, this was a bit of a pit, but it was absolutely not a pit in the sense that it was very necessary and beneficial for our lives: we took the babies in for their kitten shots last Saturday. The price tag for both of them getting all their necessary shots, testing, and a course of flea treatment was a cool $240.

Not the cheapest option, I know – there are clinics you can go to for cheaper. However, as the very first vet visit, we wanted to make sure we got the kittens off to a healthy start, and caught any possible problems before they became worse. After all, they were both abandoned in boxes at a very young age!

Happily, both kittens are healthy and strong, if a little skinny. We are fattening them up nicely, never fear.

Another very, very deep pit this week was the purchase of our plane tickets to go to New York in the summer. Why go there, and why then, you ask? Well, to visit with Anna’s sister’s new baby of course! I scoured the internet and every deal site I could possibly find in order to try to get a bargain on plane tickets, but it is just plain expensive to fly to New York in the summer. Sigh.

We were out $700 for that. Ouch.

But, you know. Babies!

The view from Parker Mesa Overlook.

Peaks

Now that we’re back from our vacation, we’re settling into the groove of cooking at home again, and saving those eating out dollars. We were also gifted even more cat accoutrements from one of Anna’s coworkers. So far all we have had to buy was actual litter and actual food.

We also had a very fun and frugal birthday celebration for a friend of ours this past weekend. She is one of our best friends with whom to share hiking, camping, and general outside times. We asked her what she wanted to do for her birthday, and she wanted to go for a hike of course!

We all hiked up to the Parker Mesa Overlook in Topanga State Park and enjoyed the view of LA and the Pacific Ocean. Then we headed back down and posted up on the beach with a few beers, some chips, and guacamole. It was a birthday excellently spent, and very little money spent.